Monday, September 10, 2012

Truly, India is a free country

Yes, India is a great democratic country, where the
government is of the people, by the people, for the people.

One poor cartoonist, a Mr. Aseem Trivedi, took this cliché
by its literal meaning, which should never have been the case in India. India
is a place of promises, just that. None of these promises are meant to keep.

During elections, we get thousands of promises - subsidized
rice, TV, laptop, check the inflation, dams, canals, airports, roads, new
trains, new irrigation projects, new schemes to ease the pressure on the people
etc. etc. Once elections are over, even we forget about those promises.

We proclaim that ours is a free society. Every citizen is a
free soul. He can travel / work anywhere in India, perhaps not in Jammu &
Kashmir, but all the other states. Try telling that to a certain self-anointed
monarch of Mumbai (Maharashtra), and you get the real meaning of freedom to travel
/ work anywhere in India.

Yeah, ours is a free society. When China restricts &
censor the internet, we raised a big hue & cry. You see, the people of
china should get freedom to read what’s there on Internet. Yeah, when some
cartoons surfaced on a leading social networking site, our very efficient cyber
crime wing woke up from the usual slumber, and shot letters to the site to
remove the contents that in any way depicts a certain lady and her puppet. Or
some articles that reveals the sources of foreign bank accounts. Or some
references to the leading politicians in scam related articles.

Today, the new Mumbai police commissioner said that Creative
artists should know their limits. True, they can continue praising the government,
praising the great country, but any voice of dissent will be treated as
treason. This cartoons, depicting the government as blood-thirsty hounds, will result
in anarchy and chaos. Alas! Give me a break Mr. Satyapal Singh, do you think
public doesn’t know these truths? They are unaware of the huge scams unearthed
day after passing day?

The police can collect hafta, harass lovers, beat-up people,
do all the goddamned stuff, but yes, cartoonists, they should mind the stuff
they do. Such a pathetic force, who can stoop down to steal from beggars,
trying to be the devil’s advocate? Get a life officer.

It’s just that Indian public are lethargic and carry on with
their lives. We won’t raise a little finger to protest against any atrocities,
any attack against our freedom, any interference into our private lives. The
Coal-gate scam is 1.86 Lakh Crores? Fine, anyway I have my job. The 2G spectrum
is 1.76 Lakh Crore? Oops, sorry I need to catch a train.

Mr. Trivedi, fear not, you have done nothing wrong. It is
your creative freedom that you exercised. Yeah, they can hang you, but we will
always praise your courage, via this kind of cheap blogs. You sacrifice your freedom
and writing my protest in a blog, read by only me (perhaps a couple of people)
and I am happy, I have done my bit.